Ingredients (makes 4 servings so I doubled this so we’d have leftovers):

2 tablespoons coconut oil instead

1 small onion, chopped

1 medium carrot, copped

1 medium butternut squash – peeled, seeded, and cubed

1 (32 fluid ounce) container chicken stock

1 teaspoon fresh minced ginger

1 clove fresh minced garlic

1/2 tablespoon curry powder

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions:

Melt the coconut oil in a large pot, and cook the onion, carrot, squash, ginger, garlic and curry powder for 5 minutes, or until lightly browned. Pour in enough of the chicken stock to cover vegetables. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover pot, and simmer 40 minutes, or until all vegetables are tender.

Transfer the soup to a blender, and blend until smooth. Return to pot, and mix in any remaining stock to attain desired consistency. Or better yet, if you have an immersion blender you can skip the blender and extra dishes by blending the soup up right in the pot! Season with salt and pepper.

Well it was actually more like I Heard the Sign (love me some throwback Ace of Base). The hours leading up to receiving my lab results today had me a bit anxious. For those of you that are in the same boat as me – monitoring blood cancer, you know that we follow a different calendar year. There are no “months”, as time is measured in chunks of days or weeks between labs, always wondering what things will look like after the next “chunk” passes.

Today was one of those work days where so many things went wrong leading up to leaving for my oncology appointment. So much so that I had myself convinced this was a bad omen. Keeping a positive attitude is key, and even when the rest of your life is being dictated over and over again by these results, it’s easy to trick yourself into thinking: man, maybe my time is up and this is it (it being needing treatment). As I fumbled with the radio in my car, I was not content with finding a song option that helped to combat my current mood. I resorted to the only song that even seemed tolerable, and I’ve now forgotten what it was. The next song came on and I laughed to myself, instantly knowing that things were going to be just fine.

Yes, they are fine. My levels are stable. I will post the actual numbers when they hit my patient portal for those of you that know how to read those things. But everything has pretty much stayed the same since April 2015 when I was diagnosed. Free light chains, immunoglobulins, etc. are pretty identical to diagnosis. Still very low WBC of 2.8 and neutrophils of 600. Textbook speaking, my body has a hard time fighting off infections, but if you know me, you also know I haven’t been sick beyond a cold since diagnosis.

So what was the sign? Some of you know that I have a special needs dog at home who suffered a ruptured disc in October 2013 and needed back surgery. He learned to walk again but has some funny traits as a result of nerve damage. Some dogs shake from time to time like they just got out of a pool of water. My guy does that too, but the back end of his body doesn’t know it’s time to stop shaking. It continues to vibrate like a lawnmower that can’t decide if it wants to start. He’s become known among my friends for his “vibrations”. He cannot itch his own back so it seems to be his way of getting his itches out. My husband has always said our dog’s theme song is “Shake it Off” by Taylor Swift because of this trait. About a year ago we thought he was going to have to have another surgery, this time for a suspected hernia. I prayed the night before his appointment and pleaded with my mom to watch over him (for my new readers, my mom passed away from breast cancer in early 2013). At the vet appointment, I discovered that there was no hernia like I had been told nearly a year earlier; it was just a muscle that stuck out oddly due to atrophy in surrounding muscles. My pup and I hopped into my car, I started it up and on came “Shake it Off”! I knew my mom was letting me know she had pulled some strings for for him, just like I knew she was watching over me when the same song came on just minutes before arriving to my oncology office.

I woke up this morning trying to recount the night before as I was overcome by this feeling that I had been jabbed in the ribs… Was I mugged? Did I try wrestling some kind of wild animal? Perhaps I was hit by a bus? As my sleepiness wore off I realized that I had been defeated, yes defeated by YOGA!

Okay so it’s been awhile since I worked out. Those of you that followed earlier posts know that this is a constant struggle. At one point I strove to do yoga or Pilates once or twice a week during my lunch break at the gym on campus. I’ve lost track but it’s been at least six months since my palms touched that mat in downward facing dog (quite possibly my least favorite yoga position, btw). I’ve been dealing with extreme fatigue and while the past few months I kept telling myself I needed to boost up the physical activity, I fell into my usual stance of making excuses. As I’ve mentioned before, I loath exercise. I really, really do, and quite possibly more than most people, but I really feel so much better afterwards. And it usually has a positive impact on my blood cell counts. You’d think that’s be reason enough to be motivated, sadly not.

When I realized why I hurt EVERYWHERE today my first reaction was screw this, who wants to feel like this? I mean even laughing was painful! Thankfully reality set in and the pain I was feeling accompanied the realization that I was feeling so bad today because I’m not doing this enough. The class was brutal. First of all I do like yoga, though admittedly after about 30 minutes in I’m constantly checking the clock to see if it’s over yet. Hot yoga on the other hand is just not my thing, and low and behold the community yoga class I signed up for was also a hot yoga class in disguise. My eyes darted to the door, urging me to make my escape. But it was paid for, I was there with friends and decided to stick it out. My thought process during that one hour was as follows:-OMG this is awful-I thought yoga was supposed to be calming. Why does this instructor keep yelling “inhale” and “exhale” like an army drill Sargent?-If we do one more downward facing dog I swear my wrists are going to break off-Okay this is getting a little bit better but I’m hella sweaty-Oooooh Savasana, why couldn’t the whole class be like this?-Oh hey, I feel pretty damn good (and completed the whole one hour class)

As my friends and I left the studio feeling pretty zen, we recounted the class and had similar sentiments but had all decided to make a weekly habit of returning. That was before we all woke up the next day, but no pain no gain right? And sometimes pain might just give you the determination you need to realize, “hey, this is good for me!”.

P.S. If you are like me and struggle to motivate yourself to exercise I have two tips:
1. Find a gym buddy – it’s always better to hold each other accountable
2. Find something you actually ENJOY doing. I learned long ago I’ll never be a runner, but biking works well for me. Keep trying new things!

When I was diagnosed I started taking a range of supplements/vitamins as many people do on a daily basis. At first I carried around about five or six pill bottles in my purse. What a pain! So then I purchased a daily dose plastic pill holder from the drug store than could contain a weeks worth of supplements. Problem solved right? Well I had apparently bought an easy release option made for people suffering from arthritis and came to find almost all the pills had been released into the bottom of my purse. I scoured the interwebs in search of something better and came across Pillfolds by Sara Gorman. Ah-mazing!

Here was this compact, fabric, and fashionable way to discreetly contain a weeks worth of pills in my purse. Note: the inside is a bit yellowed on mine from the large amount of turmeric I take.

Pillfolds not only have storage for each day of the week, they also separate by day and night. Sun for daytime, moon for night. Hmm did I take my pills tonight? I just unsnap the pouch and if the pills are still sitting on the “night” side that day then I have my answer.

Pillfolds come in many patterns and colors. There’s even a few masculine options as well. They run about $40, which initially caused me some hesitation on purchasing but they’re handmade and after having mine over a year I’d be lost without it! Worth every penny! They’re offering 15% off when you subscribe to emails and now have an extended version which holds even more pills.

Hope some of you will find this product review useful in your daily lives as well!

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